EXERCISE 

Older Runners enjoy a boost in longevity, study suggests

Old runners don't die, they just keep going.

A study tracked about 538 recreational runners over the age of 50 for 20 years and compared them with a similar group of non-runners.  Both groups now are in their 70s and 80s.  The study found that regular running slows the effects of aging.  For instance, 19 years into the study, 34% of non-runners had died, compared with 15% of the runners.

The researchers also looked at various levels of disability and found that while both groups had higher levels of disability after 21 years, for the runners the initial disability began 16 years later than the non-runners.  The findings were somewhat of a surprise to the researchers, who when they began the study in 1984 thought that regular jogging by middle aged people would lead to a surge of orthopedic injuries.  However, they noted that running straight ahead without pain is not harmful.

"If you had to pick one thing to make people healthier as they age, it would be aerobic exercise," senior author James Fries, professor emeritus of medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine said in a statement.  The study was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Explore a variety of training, nutrition and motivational advice

• Active.com – for sports you can do and much more
• Runner's World – includes getting started, women's running, kid's running & teen running
• Running Times – an online version of the magazine and more
• Marathon and Beyond – goes the extra step
• New Balance – join club nb for training tips and more
• Training Info – Run Injury Free for Life with Jeff Galloway
• JohnBingham.com – information and wisdom from "The Penguin"
• Midwest Sports Events – triathlons and more
• AchillesTendon.com – information regarding these injuries
• UW Health Runners Clinic – Dr. Bryan Heiderscheit
• MarathonPlanet.com – online shopping mall for marathon runners
• Gatorade Sports Science Institute - Sharing knowledge on sports nutrition & exercise science
• Road ID - Source for events here and throughout the country

Keep a training diary. Record not only your workouts but also your day-to-day mood.

Drive to a state park or county park once a month to run in a new and picturesque area.

When trying to improve your running form, it helps to watch the best runners in action.  Try and visualize yourself running with similar form the next time you run.

When you are running hills, imagine that a thick towrope is attached to your chest and is pulling you up the incline at a firm, steady effort.

If you run the same loop day after day, resist the temptation to improve your time.  That can lead to frustration and injury.  Instead, run the course backward for a few weeks and leave your watch at home.

Leave something in your "mental" bank.  It's good to finish a hard training session thinking: "I could do one more repeat mile...."  or "I could do that hill again...."

Form multi-tiered goal strategies.  Have a "doable" goal, a "challenging midrange" goal, and a "dream" goal that seems out of reach.

Tips for the Experienced

Every 5 years, wipe the slate clean in terms of your "personal bests." That is, have a lifetime list for your 5K PR, but also for the 40-45 years, the 45-50 years…and so on.

Strength training becomes even more important for older runners.  To hang on to muscle mass, schedule 2 or 3 strength training sessions per week, even if it's just 20 minutes per workout.

As we age, injuries take longer to heal.  Pay more attention to the little aches and pains... the ones you might have trained through at age 22... and take 48 hours off.

Don't listen to "the voice" - the one that say's, "You're too old for this kind of exercise."  (Ed. note - After all, I did not start running until I was 52 and ran a marathon that year.)

Older runners have to work at hanging on to their natural speed.  Try adding a half-dozen 100 meter strides at a fast, but controlled pace at the end of a 30 minute easy run.

It's a fun challenge to see how fast you can run a mile.  Some track meets have special "master miles" you can enter.

Schedule more rest days.  You'll be surprised how well you can race on just four or five days of training per week.

Tips for Young Runners

Different sports are fine for young runners. Soccer and track are good combinations, as is cross country. Sometimes it's a good idea not to specialize until your high school or even college.

It's fun to participate in local road races, but young runners (16 or under) should probably stick to races that are shorter than 10K.  Avoid marathons until you are older and more experienced.

Relay races are fun and help cement team relationships.

Double-knot your running shoes on race day.

If you have a competition in the afternoon, make sure you eat a good lunch and drink lots of water throughout the day.

Training Tips

Don't wait until the end of the day to run. Studies show that both mental and physical reaction time is slowed by as much as 50 percent after subjects are awake 17 to 19 hours - the number of waking hours in a normal day for many people.

To avoid muscle cramping during your long runs, imbibe a sports drink, which supplies both carbohydrates and electrolytes.  Drink about 6 ounces every 15 to 20 minutes.

You don't have to pound the miles every day.  Logging some so-called "junk miles" can make you a much stronger runner, because slow miles build strength and endurance as well as burn the same number of calories as hard miles.  They give you time to relax and enjoy your run too.

If you're out on a run and your shoulders begin to feel tight, unclench your fists.  Clenching your fists causes tightness all through your arms and can wear you down on your run.  To fix this, pretend you are grabbing for apples or oranges.  This will help keep your fists relaxed.

Pack a small kit to bring to races, just in case promoter-supplied goods run low.  Bring spare safety pins to secure your race number, a bit of toilet paper, a bottle of water, and an energy bar.  You might not need them, but you'll be glad you thought of them if you do.

To avoid a treadmill induced injury, be sure the belt on your machine has been at least eight square feet of surface area.  The smaller the running area, the more likely you are to fall off.

UW-Health Runner's Clinic at UW-Madison

UW Health Runners Clinic – Dr. Bryan Heiderscheit

Dr. Bryan Heiderscheit, a physical therapist/biomechanist runs a Runners clinic at the UW-Madison. His facility is in the medical school of the campus. He sees patients on Wednesday afternoons from 2-5 pm. Regular doctors don’t always have the answers to why you are injured or what to do about it.

Five things he looks at are:

1. Looks at your training logs. 80-90% of injuries due to poor training.

2. Looks at your goals and what is going on. Your pace, background of running, injury and performance.

3. Does a complete Muscular skeletal evaluation

4. Treadmill work- watch you walk barefoot, put shoes on and have you run and video tapes you doing these. Checks mechanical efficiency.

5. Usually gives you some sort of exercises to do- including hip flexors, mechanical and physical exercises that you won’t get at your family doctor. He caters to the runner.

Dr. Heiderscheit developed an interest in running about 4 years ago. He is a plodder . He does not do marathons, more 5K’s, 10 k”s and ½ marathons.

Dr. Heiderscheit was a consultant to several shoe companies and spoke about how to pick shoes. You cannot tell by looking at you standing if that shoe is right for you or not. You should be concerned how the shoe feels on your foot. Typically only 2% difference between a motion, stability or a cushioning shoe.

Shoes are designed to fit a whole lot of people. Each person has a different level of stiffness as each person responds differently.

Shoes look nice. In the industry color does make a difference in the studies. They did a survey and gave people several pairs of shoes (the same shoe) but in different colors and asked them to rank them. Testers found the shoes that looked nicer made them run faster and felt better. Shoe companies know this and target consumers on that. Shoe companies have huge R&D departments for color analyst sections 5 X the size of the Marketing dept.

Shoe companies don’t look into the Injury and prevention end of the market. They are worried about performance.

Doctors thought that running injuries begin with the foot, but they are finding more so that the injuries are hip and knee related. Comes from repetitive impact, don’t know how severe, where, when will have injury.

They are finding that the hip flexibility is causing more injuries.

Harvard research showed older individuals and walking, one group got 1 exercise to do a couple of times a day versus the other group who did nothing but walk. The group with the exercise for hip flexibility had a greater stride length and greater propulsion and push off.

Flexibility goes hand in hand with performance.

Stretch before and after running; light 5 minute warm up-stop- stretch then run. You can mix your stretches throughout the day. #0 seconds long enough to hold the stretch, repeat 2x each leg, 4-5 x a day.

Don’t try to be more aggressive with stretching.

For isolated muscle weakness the machines are great.

Dr. Heiderscheit has brochures regarding the Runner ‘s Clinic for those interested. See the link posted at the top of this page to the Dr’s website for more information.

Running in Top Form

Follow these 6 easy steps to improve your running form, increase efficiency and fight off injury.
By Matt Fitzgerald

Most runners believe that, for better or worse, the stride they’re born with is the stride they are stuck with. While its true some are blessed with enviable running form, an imperfect stride is no reason to throw in the towel in favor of lawn bowling or channel surfing. With a little knowledge and discipline, a variety of small but critical adjustments can improve your running, helping to increase your efficiency and reduce your risk of injury. The foundation for most improvements in running form is cross training for core strength and dynamic flexibility. While this is a critical form of run training, there are also specific technique improvements you can make. To make these stick you’ll need to take the same approach golfers take to improve their stroke: conscious manipulation and repetition. It’s a two-step process. Step one is to select one specific alteration to your stride that makes it either more efficient or more stable, or both. Step two is to consciously recreate this new pattern with every stride of every run until its second nature. Allow at least a couple of weeks for this to happen. Then you can make another change. Here are 6 basic technique changes to work on:

1. Reduce your stance pause. One of the key traits of the most efficient runners is the lack, or near total lack, of any pause during the stance phase of the stride. The stance phase is when the foot is flat or almost flat on the ground, between the foot strike and toe-off phases. To reduce your stance pause, begin to retract your leg just before your foot lands with each stride, so that you’re already thrusting backward when your foot makes contact.

2. Run tall. Many runners tend to collapse at the hips and pelvis when their foot comes in contact with the ground. This wastes energy and can lead to a variety of overuse injuries. To overcome this type of collapsing, concentrate on running more erectly. Imagine wires attached to your shoulders and pulling gently upward. Thrust your hips forward just a bit and gently engage the muscles of your lower abdomen to keep your pelvis neutral.

3. Relax your upper body. Most runners run with unnecessary tension in their arms, shoulders, neck, and even their faces, especially when running hard. All of this tension equals wasted energy. Practice running with loose fingers, forearms and upper arms, and with no hunch in your shoulders and a relaxed facial expression.

4. Land on the mid-foot. Landing heel first is like driving with the emergency brake engaged. Not every heel striker can transform himself or herself into a mid-foot striker, but many can. A good way to begin the process is to practice running with shorter strides. Use the same technique of retracting your forward leg before foot impact described in tip number one.

5. Use your big toe. The metatarso-phalangeal (MP) joint at the ball of the foot was designed to actively plantar flex (flex downward) during push-off. The rigidity of running shoes inhibits the MP joint from actively plantar flexing, reducing the power of your stride. You can get some of it back by consciously pushing off the ground with your big toe, beginning at its origin at the mid-foot-forefoot juncture.

6. Bounce less. Runners need to push themselves upward slightly in order to float between footstrikes. By becoming airborne you can take longer strides than you do when you walk. In fact, faster runners spend more time airborne and less time in contact with the ground than slower runners. As much as possible you want to float forward not upward, and, indeed, faster runners tend to keep the top of their head closer to the ground (relative to their height) than slower runners. Practice this scooting style of running.

For more information about how to improve your running form, check out Matt Fitzgerald's latest book, Runners World Guide to Cross-Training (Rodale, 2004).

Nutrition for the Everyday Athlete

Articles by Sarah Dreier  Sarah@PaceSettersRun.org

What's Your Nutrition Plan?

Hey there, athlete! So you've got that big race coming up. I bet you're getting excited since race day is soon. Gotta make sure you're prepared. What's your nutrition plan? (more...)

The Peanut Butter Diet

'Does that even exist?' You might be thinking. It does. It's a book. That's right, that's the book's title, written by Holly McCord, MA, RD, the nutrition editor for Prevention magazine. And it's actually a legit diet, in my opinion. (more...)

The Good, the Bad, and the Salty

You know the feeling. Grit on your skin after a long, hard training run. Your forehead, arms, stomach, and back are soaked with sweat from the heat of the beating sun. Salt lines your hat or sunglasses and all of your running clothes. Then, the craving hits. French fries! Or maybe a big juicy burger! It might even just be for some pretzels! You are craving salt. (more...)

Pre-Race Fuel and Carbo Loading: Eat Like An Elite

It can be said that the American who made the most history at this summer's Olympic Games was Michael Phelps. (I hear you ladies - hooting in the background!) He won eight gold medals, more than any other athlete in a single Olympic game. He may have been born with the perfect body to assist his swimming ability. He also has some of the most knowledgeable coaches in the world to guide his training. However, there is one thing you can control that can make you perform like Phelps. You can't argue against the fact that his diet greatly helps his talents in the pool, and you too can use food to fulfill your greatest talents while running a race. (more...)

Chocolate: Worth worshipping?

Since I can remember, chocolate has always been a sinful indulgence. It was something I could only really get my hands on around Halloween. I would treasure every last Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup I collected as a child (Hell-LO! Peanut butter!!). From being taught that too much chocolate is bad to knowing that there is “death by chocolate,” how could one not associate chocolate with evil? Can anyone say Devil’s food cake? (more...)

Your Happy Holiday Doesn't Have to Be a Hefty Holiday

What makes the holidays so joyous? Family, lights, snow...and, food! This is the time of year when a stupendous amount of treats seem to surround us. It starts at Halloween, which is hallmarked with candy. (Reese's Peanut Butter Cups!) Next comes Thanksgiving, which celebrates a feast centering on turkey and pumpkin pie (or if you're vegetarian, Tofurky! You've heard of it, right?) Finally, there's Christmas, which is the celebration of a food that is usually a family tradition. My family's food tradition is my baby brother's peanut butter chocolate kiss cookies (any surprise there?) (more...)

A Drinking Club With A Running Problem

At the most recent Pacesetter's Board meeting, several ideas of how to get more runners to come out for our fun runs were discussed. Someone suggested we offer alcohol after each run. This was a well-accepted idea by the whole board. There was also talk about how a recent run of ours that ended at a local bar was a big hit that was attended by more runners than usual. It got me to thinking...how many runners out there drink on a regular basis? Would booze be enough of an incentive to get many of them out there to run? I rarely drink since giving up regular alcohol consumption was what helped me lose 50 pounds two years ago, so I am definitely an anomaly when it comes to being a "true" Wisconsin runner. I thought it'd be fair for me to find out that, if alcohol was offered at Pacesetters gatherings, whether or not it'd be helpful or hindering to our running performance. After all, our goal is to promote a healthy lifestyle. (more...)

The Real Truth about Energy Drinks

Often, I hear friends (and especially athletes who train numerous hours a week) complain about how there aren't enough hours in the day. Lack of sleep and too many commitments – not to mention squeezing in our training – takes its toll.  To compensate, we turn to two favorite standbys to help us keep our energy up: sugar and caffeine. The most popular products that contain both of these include coffee, soda, and – of course – energy drinks. The one that has caused the most buzz lately, though, has been energy drinks. So, what’s all the “buzz” about?  (more...)

The Truth About Energy Drinks: Part 2

Last month’s article focused on the two most familiar ingredients in energy drinks: caffeine and sugar. Caffeine can certainly be helpful if taken in doses that coincide with our racing and training needs, but if consumed in excess, it can cause mood swings and manipulate our heart rates and lactic acid production. Too much of both caffeine and sugar can also lead to dehydration – an athlete’s worst enemy.  (more...)

Explore a variety of injury and recovery advice

• Active.com – for sports you can do and much more
• Runner's World – includes getting started, women's running, kid's running & teen running
• Running Times – an online version of the magazine and more
• Marathon and Beyond – goes the extra step
• New Balance – join club nb for training tips and more
• Training Info – Run Injury Free for Life with Jeff Galloway
• AchillesTendon.com – information regarding these injuries
• UW Health Runners Clinic – Dr. Bryan Heiderscheit
• Gatorade Sports Science Institute - Sharing knowledge on sports nutrition & exercise science